Why has the Seahawks’ passing game regressed in recent weeks?
Dec 9, 2019, 10:53 AM | Updated: 10:58 am
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Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson was the favorite to win the MVP award through the first nine weeks of the season, leading an explosive and efficient passing attack.
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He was playing lights-out football, and through Week 9, Wilson had thrown 22 touchdowns and just one interception. From Week 10 onward, Wilson has thrown four touchdowns and four interceptions.
Between Week 1 and Week 9, Wilson had just one game with a passer rating under 100. He hasn’t exceeded that mark since Week 9.
In the team’s 28-12 loss to the Los Angeles Rams on Sunday night, the passing game and the offense in general never got going. Seattle’s only scores were two Jason Myers field goals and a Quandre Diggs interception that he returned for a touchdown.
It was the first game this season that Wilson didn’t have a passing touchdown and was also the first game the offense has failed to find the endzone.
So, what’s been up with the passing game the last few weeks?
710 ESPN Seattle’s Brock Huard says the passing game requires a lot of different things to click such as play-calling and beating coverages, but one big reason the offense hasn’t been as dynamic is Seattle’s No. 1 receiver is still working to get 100 percent healthy.
“Obviously Tyler (Lockett) is a major part of it,” Huard told Paul Gallant and Michael Bumpus on Danny and Gallant Monday morning. “Lockett was on a historic rate – a franchise record-setting rate. He got his game going and his connection with Russell Wilson was other-worldly for the first half of the season. He suffers an injury, he gets sick, he loses some weight and strength and you’re just waiting for his bounce back game.”
Lockett injured his shin Week 10 against the San Francisco 49ers. Due to swelling and the risk of needing surgery, Lockett stayed for two nights in a Bay Area hospital before flying back to Seattle.
He hasn’t missed any games, thanks in part to Seattle’s bye coming in Week 11, but he has definitely not been himself.
From Week 10 to Week 13, Lockett has eight catches for 107 yards and no touchdowns. For comparison’s sake, Lockett had 767 yards and six touchdowns through the Seahawks’ first nine week.
He also didn’t record a catch against the Minnesota Vikings in Week 13, which was the first time since late-2017 he hasn’t had a catch in a game. He also hasn’t been returning kicks or punts since the 49ers game.
The bounce back game that Huard and the Seahawks were hoping for didn’t happen in Los Angeles.
“Russell gave him a couple 50-50 balls, some contested balls that you saw Tyler early in the year either get behind people or make the play,” Huard said. “Unfortunately, neither of those things happened and the pick at the end (of the game) was kind of representative of that … You’ve got to get that relationship going again.”
Huard said that some of the younger, lesser-known pass catchers like Malik Turner and Jacob Hollister are bound to have rough games, and they both did against the Rams, dropping passes that would have extended drives in the first half.
“These are not guys who have not been there and done it before,” Huard said. “They have been spectacular in stretches … as a young inexperienced player, they’re going to kind of regress to the mean a little bit.”
Huard said that marquee receivers are often going to get taken away by opposing defenses and that’s when those other players need to step up and win one-on-one matchups.
“In this league if you can’t beat one-on-one coverage and you can’t catch the football you’re just not going to be around very long,” Huard said. “They got some one-on-ones. I thought they were some pretty good play calls that put guys in position where they’ve got to catch it. And Russell put it right in their fingers, right in their hands on a couple of those occasions in big moments.”
The good news is for the most part this season, those other targets have stepped up when called on aside from Week 14.
“Everybody’s basically risen to the occasion and last night just about everybody unfortunately fell down when the opportunity was presented,” Huard said.
The Seahawks’ pass catchers will look to get back on track Sunday against the Carolina Panthers in Seattle’s final road contest of the regular season.
Listen to Huard’s thoughts at this link or in the player below at roughly the 6:20 mark.
Follow 710 ESPN Seattle’s Brock Huard on Twitter.
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